By SDCN Editor
San Diego, CA–Top-seeded Bella Payne avoided elimination and reached the 16s singles quarterfinals of the 2024 USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 16s and 18s National Championships, but it wasn’t easy.
Playing under partly cloudy skies at Barnes Tennis Center, the 16-year-old from Bradenton, Fla., overcame the loss of the second set and came back to score a thrilling 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (3) victory over 33rd-seeded Kara Garcia of Sylmar, CA in two-hours and 45 minutes.
Payne will meet ninth-seeded Nicole Weng of South Pasadena, CA on Thursday at 1 p.m., with the winner moving on to Friday’s semifinals.
Second-seeded Thara Gowda of Rochester Hills, MI also advanced to Thursday’s 16s quarterfinals as she dismissed 12th-seeded Lani Chang of Mission Viejo, CA 7-5, 6-0. Gowda is set to face 14th-seeded Lyla Middleton of Santa Fe, N.M., at 1 p.m.
Isabelle DeLuccia of Livingston, N.J., the third seed in the Girls’ 16s draw, won the opening set of her Round of 16 match, but 17th-seeded Ishika Ashar of Boca Raton, FL, came back to win 12 of the last 14 games to defeat DeLuccia 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals.
(In Tuesday’s Summary, it was erroneously reported that DeLuccia had lost her fourth-round match. She defeated 17th-seeded Aoife Kuo 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.)
In the Girls’ 18s singles division, top-seed Clervie Ngounoue, second-seeded Akasha Urhobo, third-seeded Iva Jovic, and fourth-seeded Tyra Caterina Grant all won straight-set matches to move into Thursday’s Round of 16.
Fifth-seeded Valerie Glozman, who reached the 2022 Girls’ 18s singles final, also advanced to the Round of 16 as she dispatched 17-seeded Christasha McNeil of North Baldwin, N.Y., 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 33 minutes.
Following the match, the 17-year-old Glozman from Bellevue, Wash., spoke about taking a break from tennis to travel and how it affected her game.
“I’m not playing my best tennis, but I feel like I’m working my way back. I haven’t been able to get very much match play. I was working really hard the past couple of weeks, preparing for this tournament,” Glozman said. “I’m definitely short on match play, so I’m working my way into it in these first two matches and I hope I can continue to scrape through until I find my higher gear.”
Glozman, a singles semifinalist last year, is scheduled to play unseeded Rachael Smith of Naperville, Ill., at 11 a.m. on Thursday.
San Diego’s Alyssa Ahn is the lone remaining local entrant in the Girls’ 18s singles draw. On Wednesday, the 17th-seeded Ahn took one hour and 49 minutes to get past 33rd seed Alexandra Wolf of Pacific Palisades, Calif., 6-3, 6-3. She will take on Grant on Thursday at 11 a.m.
Starting times for the tournament are 9 a.m. — Thursday, August 8 and Friday, August 9; 10 a.m. — Saturday, August 10 and Sunday, August 11.
Admission is free each day of the tournament and there is no charge for parking at Barnes Tennis Center.
